Food is the gift from our mother nature. It is also the product of history and culture. What we eat and how we eat shapes our life-stage identities and the quality of lives. When I was little, I hate eating garlic, green leek, ginger and cilantro which are the very common ingredients and seasonings for Chinese cuisine. I could not stand how they taste like even eat with my favorite dish. This made my parents worried and since then they instilled me a lot of foods-related health benefits and how they act upon on the bodies. Reflected on my past experiences, what I have gained is that food is culture. This means food connects people and people create the food cultural environment from production to digestion. I grow up with a family that emphasizes on family reunion and sharing food together. We value collective action and seeing food as a medium to bring people and families closer together. Most of the knowledge can trace back to the ancient Chinese history and also applies to the modern world. There are a lot of proverbs and cultural beliefs that guides Chinese people what to eat and how to eat. For example, how to cook appropriately in terms of heating, combinations, temperature, orders, and the role of ingredient in different dishes etc. Cooking is a process not only based on the wisdom from the ancestors but also involved the scientific studies on nutritional value. However, scientific research on food studies are always changing, sometimes even misleading. I learned from my nutrition class about how nutrients work in human bodies through the digestion, absorption and transportation. However, what embedded in my mind and guide me through all the time is the food cultural environment I used to live in. This includes the school and family education I received and my travelling experiences in China. Nowadays, I still keep track of reading the food and health related sections on Beijing evening newspaper. And I not only without trouble eating garlic, leek or ginger but also enjoy cooking them combine with different dishes. I do not remember the reason of my changing appetite from avoiding garlic to embrace it, but I am guessing it comes from the pleasure of cultural practices and the increasing of knowledge.

Michael Pollan’s perspectives mostly are based on the cultural appropriateness. My take away from his reading is to obey the rule of the food, which means to respect the nature and respect ourselves. There is no doubt that understanding nutrition facts of food is important, however, I do not think it is a culturally appropriate way to take the nutrient out of the context of food and use them as a tool in marketing.I totally understand Michael Pollan’s insights and I agree with his points. He helped me to take a step back and reflect on myself and my past experiences. His interesting point on “don’t eat anything your great grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food” waked me up from my foods-hunting dilemma. What his trying to convey is to be a mindful eater. I felt connected. A lot of times I was struggling with what food product to choose when I was in the supermarket. I always come up with the questions regard to the food labeled such that “heart-healthy protein”, “low-fat”, “naturally gluten-free”…are those health claims necessarily benefits to our own health, in particular works for each individual’s health situation? It always took me a while to choose among the similar food products, especially for the processed food when I was bewildered by the tempting health claims juggles. The majority of time, I assume foods who wear the health slogan have better qualities than those do not and I know what I invested most of the time also comfort me as if paying another form of health insurance. I also developed a habit of checking nutrition facts like sugar, sodium, trans fat or fiber content through the dilemmas. Ironically, fresh produce do not have health claims, and they certainly do not have to advertise themselves. Foods are so important though our lives, and they also link to our next generations health and the communities we belong to. Michael Pollan’s insights are very thought-provoking to me and I think he pointed out a direction for Americans to lean in. Food culture is the way of thinking food as a whole system with the understanding of history and custom. What I would perceive throughout my life is that understanding a balanced meal (not just food group balance but) regards to the balance of refined or coarse food, meat or vegetable, processed or fresh food is the key to lead a healthier and happier life.